Dahua SD1A404XB-GNR questions/setup

[Timokreon]

I decided instead of hijacking the review thread I would start a new one.

Basically I have from the middle and right side of the picture showing a haze. I was going to take it down and apart to see if there was a film, leak, on the camera itself... but today was too cold and windy for me to screw around with it.

I'll try Sunday and see what happens.
I may just end up moving the camera from my back/side yard to the front porch where I have pretty good light at night.

Does anyone have any hints at a good settings setup?

In case anyone wants to see the pictures, they are attached of what I'm referring to.

 

[cctv-dave]

The haze could be IR reflection. Point it in another direction for a test.

If you want to do a day/night comparison to find any hardware issues, dont move the camear between shots !!

 

[Timokreon]

The haze follows the track of the camera view.

I'll see how things look on the inside of the camera Sunday.

 

[wittaj]

If you turn the IR lights off, is it still present? Looks like you have a seal that partially rolled that is allowing IR bounce off part of the internal of the camera into the sensor.

 

[Timokreon]

Yes, the haze is still present when the IR lights are off.
That's an interesting point about the seal. Might there be a LED light in there bleeding down onto the lens? I'll know more when I take it down and take it apart on Sunday.

 

[wittaj]

Interesting. A smear/blemish on the lens maybe? But it sure looks like reflective bounce, especially since it isn't present during the day.

What are your night settings? Maybe gain or something is maxed out and showing an imperfection?

 

[Timokreon]

At the moment I'm keeping everything the same from day/night, however I have zero problems with having settings for day and night.
I'll see if I can find a recommended setup somewhere in the forum for the settings, for a good starting point.

Unless you happen to have a good starting point?
Thanks much

 

[Timokreon]

I took apart the camera this morning. I don't see anything that looks out of the ordinary other than a silica gel pack glued inside the assembly? I'm presuming that's supposed to be there to help stop moisture etc.. inside the camera housing?

I did have the power shut off to the camera when I took it apart. Perhaps I should keep it connected while powered to see if there is a LED or something shining down on the lens?

 

[wittaj]

Yep, silica pack is there to keep out moisture.

Yes, turn it on and see if you see an LED or something.

Then take a good look at the lens and move it around to get different light angles on it and see if you see a smear on it. Maybe a rogue fingerprint is on the half the lens or other smudge.

Have you confirmed the IR is off by looking at the camera at night for the red LED? If not, force the camera to not have IR on and take the camera into a dark room and see if one is still coming on.

 

[Timokreon]

Yes, the IR is off at night.

I took things apart again, before getting disapproving looks by the boss lady.. lol .. There are 3 LED's that could potentially cause glare if there is a gap inside.
Would putting a very small piece of electrical tape over the LED's be ok? There is quite a bit of circuitry around the LED's so I don't think it's possible to just cover the LED's themselves without covering part of those circuits.

I'll need to address settings as well. I've changed up a few of the settings, but I really need to change exposure to manual and dial all that in.
Worse comes to worse, I could just force it to color 24/7. Not ideal, but I do have flood lights that come on in the back if anything gets to within 30 feet of the house.

Or I could swap it out with my front porch camera. The front porch, etc.. gets enough light 24/7 that I can keep cameras on color.

Thanks very much for your help wittaj. I truly appreciate it.

 

[wittaj]

Yeah, I would put tape over the LEDs - maybe one got bent or is angled such that it is reflecting off the dome. IIRC the lens doesn't actually touch the dome with a rubber seal touching it correct? so it is very easy for any stray light from within the camera to cause that issue.

 

[Timokreon]

No, the lens doesn't the rubber seal, as far as I can tell. I'll take another look later this week and put a piece of electrical tape over the LED's.
I'm getting THE LOOK, messing around with the cameras.

 

[cctv-dave]

Not sure if you see this smear in both day and night modes.
If it's night time and you pan the camera around and the smear is still there it rules out the hemisphere.
If you switch to BW during day time and the smear appears then it's potentially a mark on the sensor or lens as the LED's shouldn't light up during day with switch to BW mode.

If you dont need the LED's then either turn them off in webpages if possible or else unplug them.
Not hte best design as teh LED's are within the dome which often causes reflections but that looks like something else to me.

 

[tibimakai]

Can the dome be twisted around?

 

[Timokreon]

Yes, if I pan the camera the haze follows in the exact same position, from middle to the right side of the picture.

During the day the haze is gone. If I force B&W during the day, I can't see a haze. I have the IR turned off and the haze is still there.

As for the LED's on the circuit board, I don't see any option to turn them off, nor a way to unplug them. I'm not 100% sure of the reason for the 3 LED's on the circuitry, but.. I'm sure the engineers have a reason.

I have not tried to twist the dome around.

I believe it's one of the 3 LED's shining down on the inside of the dome due to a gap letting the light in. The gap must be right in the middle of the camera lens, causing the glare.
If not tomorrow, then Wednesday I'll have time to take it down again and apply a small piece of electrical tape over each LED on the circuitry board.

If that doesn't work, then I'll be out of ideas and will either live with it, force it to color 24/7 or move it to my front porch and keep it color 24/7.

 

[Timokreon]

Added tape to the 3 LED's inside the camera circuitry. Did not work.
Only thing I can think of is there is a LED inside the actual ball containing the camera lens assembly. It looks like it's held together with 4 screws, but I'm not real sure I want to start playing around with the lens assembly.

I'm really not sure what else to try?

 

[tibimakai]

Remove the whole(white) cover and see, if that way looks OK, or not.

 

[Timokreon]

I have removed the white cover, which is where I found, and covered, the 3 LED's on the circuitry board.
I'm really not sure where else light could be leaking onto the lens, other than inside the lens ball which has 4 screws. But I'm really not sure I want to take that apart since I don't know what exactly is in there.

Daytime image is fine, forced daytime at night with flood lights on is fine. :sigh:

 

[tibimakai]

So, with the white cover removed, you still have that haze? The camera lens is clean?

 

[Timokreon]

Yes. Still have the haze from the middle to the right side. Camera lens has been cleaned and I don't see any smudges, etc..

When viewing the image live, the middle flare does seem to pulse, as though a leak from another LED. The only place I haven't looked is within the camera lens ball.